Paddy said: "I'm rocking around the Christmas tree at joining the Text Santa team. Santa has been very kind to me this year and paired me up with Christine Bleakley! What a fantastic way to start the Christmas countdown."

The festive extravaganza will feature a Christmas-themed Coronation Street special, ghostly celebrity cameos and mini-episodes of some of ITV1's popular shows.

Ant and Dec are also happy to be part of the team.

The pair said: "We're delighted to be returning to host Text Santa again. This year we want to make it even bigger and better."